I purchased a jumbo, and I mean JUMBO oranda from a reputable aquarium in Rockville, Maryland. We've always had fish in our home-- from bettas, to a variety of fancy goldfish, and even a pirhana. I decided a 30 gallon aquarium would add a nice touch to my apartment.
After a week of building the aquarium and stand and cycling we purchased a jumbo red cap oranda from this place. It was originally $100 and marked down to $50. This should have been a red flag. I figured this was a well-established and reputable place, although I knew it was pricey. I figured the medium red cap orandas from Petsmart were $25 so I was willing to pay extra for this beauty. There were 2 other jumbo orandas in the tank at the store. One was kinda blah. The other was so massive his wen was obstruting his vision. So we went with the third member who we aptly named Lychee. I should have been more cautious but I was so excited.
Anyways, let me describe my tank set up to you. I have a 30 gallon tank with a statue, a dragon connected to an air pump, and a small plastic floral piece also connected to the air pump. I had about 1 inch of gravel with several pretty marbles. The tank looked great the fish was swimming freely and loving his tank.
My ammonia levels were high for a few weeks but I finally got it under control. Next time I will let my water cycle much longer especially because I got such a big fish capable of producing ALOT of waste. We did weekly water changes and regularly tested water conditions. Everything was great.
Then a disaster!
One day we changed the filter... this is normally my husbands responsibility but he left the job halfway and I finished up. I did not realize he turned the dial to minimize the flow of water from the filter so I never turned it back. The water seemed cloudy and murky day after day. I tried water clarifier and it didn't work, it only stressed my fish. Once I discovered this human error the water cleared up but my fish was lethargic and showing signs of what I thought was dropsy. He also had some white cottony growth on his wen, but I was debating whether it was ich or wen growth. The fish had to have been 5 years old or so to get this size and should have assumed it was ich, not growth. I found nothing to indicate parasites or worms in the water. I medicated him with Maracyn Two and he was back to good health within 48 hours. I felt so happy and gratified that I saved my fish.
About a week or two after that I noticed my fish was listless again. This time I saw some spots and some tiny silver things flickering in the water. It also looked like I had water fleas! Everything was a mess! He even had long white stringy things attached to him, mainly from his anus. However I knew this was not white feces associated with high levels of ammonia-- it literally looked like a clear white straw that waved around in the water. It was painful for him to swim because if he would swim the worm would go back into the fish. I medicated with copper and some other things I cannot remember the name of. He seemed to be getting better but these long stringy creatures were still present. I even tried to feed him anti-parasite food but he couldn't budge to eat, losing a significant amount of weight.
He battled for three days laying on the side of his tank. We decided we should euthanize him when we got home later that evening because we spent $100 medicating and he was not getting better. When we got home we found him dead-- stuck to the filter.
He died a long painful death. I was too scared to go near the tank not knowing what was inside. I remember using the net to pull out these weird creatures to identify them but I still have no idea what they were. Anyways my mom cleaned out my tank-- discarding all the gravel and washing everything else. Everything has dried out... it has been sitting empty for a month or so.
Am I ready to re-cycle and add new fish? Should I clean with clorox to be safe? It just seems that clorox is a little harsh. And should I throw out the piping that connected the bubblers to the air pump? I'm really worried about buying another expensive fish and going through this. My fish was not only a fish but enhanced the decor of my apartment. He was definitely a talking point. Now I'm worried if I get one fish I will be attached to it again, but I fear if I had more than one some illness like this could wipe out my population and it would be harder to detect or diagnose.
I'm wondering if the fish died because of us or if there was something wrong with him in the beginning, causing him to be marked down 50%.
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!
After a week of building the aquarium and stand and cycling we purchased a jumbo red cap oranda from this place. It was originally $100 and marked down to $50. This should have been a red flag. I figured this was a well-established and reputable place, although I knew it was pricey. I figured the medium red cap orandas from Petsmart were $25 so I was willing to pay extra for this beauty. There were 2 other jumbo orandas in the tank at the store. One was kinda blah. The other was so massive his wen was obstruting his vision. So we went with the third member who we aptly named Lychee. I should have been more cautious but I was so excited.
Anyways, let me describe my tank set up to you. I have a 30 gallon tank with a statue, a dragon connected to an air pump, and a small plastic floral piece also connected to the air pump. I had about 1 inch of gravel with several pretty marbles. The tank looked great the fish was swimming freely and loving his tank.
My ammonia levels were high for a few weeks but I finally got it under control. Next time I will let my water cycle much longer especially because I got such a big fish capable of producing ALOT of waste. We did weekly water changes and regularly tested water conditions. Everything was great.
Then a disaster!
One day we changed the filter... this is normally my husbands responsibility but he left the job halfway and I finished up. I did not realize he turned the dial to minimize the flow of water from the filter so I never turned it back. The water seemed cloudy and murky day after day. I tried water clarifier and it didn't work, it only stressed my fish. Once I discovered this human error the water cleared up but my fish was lethargic and showing signs of what I thought was dropsy. He also had some white cottony growth on his wen, but I was debating whether it was ich or wen growth. The fish had to have been 5 years old or so to get this size and should have assumed it was ich, not growth. I found nothing to indicate parasites or worms in the water. I medicated him with Maracyn Two and he was back to good health within 48 hours. I felt so happy and gratified that I saved my fish.
About a week or two after that I noticed my fish was listless again. This time I saw some spots and some tiny silver things flickering in the water. It also looked like I had water fleas! Everything was a mess! He even had long white stringy things attached to him, mainly from his anus. However I knew this was not white feces associated with high levels of ammonia-- it literally looked like a clear white straw that waved around in the water. It was painful for him to swim because if he would swim the worm would go back into the fish. I medicated with copper and some other things I cannot remember the name of. He seemed to be getting better but these long stringy creatures were still present. I even tried to feed him anti-parasite food but he couldn't budge to eat, losing a significant amount of weight.
He battled for three days laying on the side of his tank. We decided we should euthanize him when we got home later that evening because we spent $100 medicating and he was not getting better. When we got home we found him dead-- stuck to the filter.
He died a long painful death. I was too scared to go near the tank not knowing what was inside. I remember using the net to pull out these weird creatures to identify them but I still have no idea what they were. Anyways my mom cleaned out my tank-- discarding all the gravel and washing everything else. Everything has dried out... it has been sitting empty for a month or so.
Am I ready to re-cycle and add new fish? Should I clean with clorox to be safe? It just seems that clorox is a little harsh. And should I throw out the piping that connected the bubblers to the air pump? I'm really worried about buying another expensive fish and going through this. My fish was not only a fish but enhanced the decor of my apartment. He was definitely a talking point. Now I'm worried if I get one fish I will be attached to it again, but I fear if I had more than one some illness like this could wipe out my population and it would be harder to detect or diagnose.
I'm wondering if the fish died because of us or if there was something wrong with him in the beginning, causing him to be marked down 50%.
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!